Takapoto

Takapoto
NASA image Takapoto
Waters	Pacific Ocean
archipelago	Tuamotu Archipelago
Geographical location	14 ° 37 ′  S , 145 ° 12 ′  W Coordinates: 14 ° 37 ′  S , 145 ° 12 ′  W
Number of islands	-
Main island	Okukina
Land area	15 km²
Lagoon area	81 km²
Residents	472 (2007)
Takapoto Lagoon

Takapoto , other names: Tuapoto, Taapouta, Oura , old names: het Eiland Daageraad ( Roggeveen ) or Tagroth ( Behrens ), Spiridof ( Kotzebue ), is a shallow coral atoll in the northwest group of the Tuamotu Archipelago in the South Pacific . Geographically, the atoll belongs to the subgroup of the King George Islands ( Îles du Roi Georges ). The next inhabited island is Takaroa , 10 km to the northeast.

geography

Takopoto and the neighboring island of Takaroa are located on a 2,780 m high submarine mountain that emerged from a hot spot on the Pacific Plate and is part of the "Tuamotu Seamount Trail". The summit has sunk due to tectonic processes and today no longer protrudes above sea level. All that remains of the atoll is the dense ring of numerous coral islets ( motus ), which together have a land area of ​​around 15 km². In the 81 km² large, oval and on average 40 m deep lagoon there are several coral reefs, some of which extend to the surface. The lagoon has no navigable passage to the Pacific Ocean, only a few shallow tidal channels ( Hoa ), which serve the exchange of water with the open sea.

The island's tropical and humid climate is relatively constant and there are no distinct seasons. The summers (November to April) are slightly warmer. The average temperature of 23 ° C varies little during the day and season and is perceived as pleasant despite the high humidity due to the constantly blowing winds. Although tropical cyclones are far less frequent than in the more western regions of Polynesia, Takapoto has also been hit several times in the past by cyclones , which caused considerable damage, for example in 1903, 1958 and 1983.

The porous limestone soil of the low islands of the South Pacific, in which the rainwater quickly seeps away, only allows vegetation that is relatively poor in species. Mainly beach winds , pandanus , pisonia grandis and numerous coconut palms grow on Takapoto . A specialty on Takapoto is the wet field cultivation of taro , about which Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout reported as early as 1837 and which the Polynesian natives already knew. A deep trench is dug into the porous coral floor, which cuts a Ghyben-Herzberg lens . The fresh water that escapes provides the taro plants with sufficient moisture.

The land fauna is limited to insects, lizards, a few spiders, and land and sea birds. The endemic Tuamotu pigeon ( Ptilinopus coralensis ) is found in a stable population on Takapoto . This makes the coral reef all the more species-rich, especially the regions around the tidal channels, through which food is washed into the lagoon during the tide changes.

Politics and administration

Politically, the island belongs to the French Overseas Zealand ( Pays d'outre-mer - POM) French Polynesia and is therefore affiliated to the EU. It is administered by a subdivision ( Subdivision administrative des Îles Tuamotu-Gambier ) of the High Commission of French Polynesia ( Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie française ) based in Papeete . Together with the neighboring Takaroa and the uninhabited Tikei , the island forms the political municipality Takaroa-Takapoto ( Commune de Takaroa-Takapoto ) with a total of 1524 inhabitants, of which 512 are Takapoto itself. The majority of the population is Catholic, but there are also Protestants and Mormons. The official language is French. The currency is (still) the CFP franc, which is linked to the euro . The only place is Fakatopatere in the extreme southwest of the atoll, where almost all residents live. On a few other motus there are individual, inhabited pearl farms.

Infrastructure

On a motu at the southwestern tip of the atoll is the Takapoto airfield, which opened in 1973 ( ICAO-ID : NTGT; IATA code: TKP), just a 920 m long asphalt runway that is only approached by small Air Tahiti aircraft.

Takapoto has no port. The concrete pier at Fakatopatere, on the Pacific side, is only suitable for small boats. The goods of the once a month supply ship from Tahiti are unloaded in the roadstead with small boats. Cruise ships rarely call at the atoll, they also have to transfer their passengers to roads.

The island has no road, only some of the motus are connected by an unpaved road.

The now most important branch of the economy is black pearl cultivation , which has been practiced on Takapoto since the 1960s. Several floating pearl farms are anchored in the lagoon. Copra is also exported to a small extent . Tourism has hardly played a role so far, the infrastructure is only slightly adapted to the needs of tourism. There is only a family pension with a few huts ( fare ) on the beach of the lagoon , no restaurants, bars and no bank. There is a post office (open at the operator's discretion), as well as a small shop with limited supply. The island does not have adequate medical care, only a medical station for first aid.

history

One of the few scientific expeditions to the Tuamotus, which also included the remote Takapoto, had the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu carried out in 1929/30 under the direction of the American anthropologist Kenneth P. Emory . Emory found that in classical times the island was divided into a total of 5 separate districts ( matakeinaga ), each of which was ruled by a clan ( gati ). The clan leaders in turn had to pay tribute to the tribal chief ( ariki ) of the entire island. Emory found the partially heavily damaged remains of four ceremonial complexes ( marae ) of the Polynesian natives. At Pointe Moturoa in the northeast is still the reconstructed Marae Takai, a ceremonial complex made up of three small platforms that were built from vertical limestone slabs. The age of the plant is not known.

The first European explorer of the island was probably the Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen in 1722 . The island is likely to be identical to the one he called "het Eiland Daageraad" or "Tagroth", since he saw it at dawn. His escort ship Africaansche Galey was previously stranded on a reef on the neighboring island of Takaroa.

James Cook visited the islands of Takapoto and Takaroa during his second voyage to the Pacific on April 18, 1774, but only sailed past Takapoto at a distance of one nautical mile without going ashore.

The next European explorer to hit Takapoto was Otto von Kotzebue. He reached Takapoto on April 22, 1815, but did not go ashore. In his opinion the island was uninhabited. This impression could be related to the consequences of an invasion from the island of Anaa, 300 km away. At the beginning of the 19th century, warriors had conquered the islands of Takapoto and Takaroa and kidnapped numerous residents as slaves to Anaa. The few remaining people are likely to have hidden when the foreign ships arrived. Kotzebue believed he was the first to discover it and named it "Spiridof" after the Russian admiral Spridof, under whose command he was once.

The United States Exploring Expedition reached the sea area of ​​the King George Islands in 1839. While the lead ship visited Vincennes with Charles Wilkes Manihi and Ahe, the lead ship Flying Fish landed on Takapoto. The accompanying botanist Pickering examined the island's flora and made a list of plants. He describes the island as densely populated ("well inhabited").

The Whitney South Sea Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History , whose primary objective was to collect bird specimens at various Pacific islands, visited Manihi, Takapoto and other neighboring atolls in February-March 1923. The scientists collected botanical specimens and registered occurring coral species and the rest of the fauna on the reef.

See also

• List of Tuamotu Islands

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://earthref.org/cgi-bin/er.cgi?s=sc.cgi?id=SMNT-144S-1461W
2. ↑ For flora see: MH Sachet, Takapoto Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago - Terrestrial Vegetation and Flora, Smithsonian Atoll Research Bulletin No. 277
3. ^ JA Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, London 1837, Reprint: Lanham (MD) 1983, p. 99
4. ^ PV Kirch: The evolution of the Polynesian chiefdoms , Cambridge (Mass.) 1996, p. 169
5. ^ Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF) - Recensement de la population 2007
6. ↑ Claude Robineau: Takapoto - étude socio-économique in Journal de la Société des Océanistes, No. 54/55, Paris, June 1977, p. 14
7. ↑ ^{a b} Kenneth P. Emory: Tuamotuan religious structures and ceremonies , New York 1947, new edition 1971, p. 7
8. ↑ Kenneth P. Emory: Tuamotuan stone structures , Honolulu 1934, p. 35
9. ↑ Carl Friedrich Behrens: The well-attempted southerner, journey around the world 1721/22, reprinted by Brockhaus-Verlag Leipzig 1923, p. 76
10. ↑ JC Beaglehole: The Journals of Captain James Cook , Vol. 2, Cambridge 1961, p. 379
11. ↑ Otto von Kotzebue: Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Bering's Straits for the Purpose of Exploring a North-East Passage, undertaken in the Years 1815, 1818 . . . , London 1821 (translation of the original into English), Volume 1, pp. 153–154
12. ^ Charles Wilkes: Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 by Charles Wilkes, USN, Philadelphia 1845, Volume 1, p. 356

Web links

• Plant list for Takapoto of the Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk project (PIER )
• Brief description and picture of the atoll ( memento from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Census 2007 ( Memento of February 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (French)
• Images of the atoll (English)
• Map of the atoll
• Map of the atoll